Two kinds of fish can be found in a small tank that is 5 1/7 feet long. A blue fish is 2 1/5 foot long and an orange fish is 7/10 foot long. How much longer is the orange fish?

Answer 1

First, we need to decide what the question is asking for in order to determine the numbers needed in the equation, as well as the operation needed to solve it. Because the question asks how much longer the orange fish is than the blue fish, we know that the length of the tank is not needed for our problem. That leaves 2 1/5 foot for the length of the blue fish and 7/10 foot for the length of the orange fish. Unfortunately, because the orange fish is shorter than the blue fish, this problem cannot be solved properly. When asked, "how much longer is the orange fish?", the orange fish would need to have a greater length in order to subtract to find how much longer it is than the blue fish.